you.jon: westill have debt deadlock on capitol hill with the default deadline just eight days away now. congressional leaders are still struggling to hammer out some kind of a deal, one that would raise the limit on our nation's credit card while cutting trillions of dollars in spending. house speaker john boehner may unveil his own bill today. harry reid said it would be a nonstarter. wendell goler is live on the north lawn with more. >> reporter: speaker boehner's plan would take the spending cuts agreed to before talks with vice joe biden broke down and raise the debt ceiling a little less than that. it would satisfy the speakers bottom line which is cutting spending more than the debt ceiling is raids but we'd have to go through this all over again by the end of the year. the speaker said yesterday it would solve the immediate crisis. >> there is going to be a two-stage process. it's not physically possible to do all of this in one step. having said that, chris, i know the president is worried about his next election, but my god shouldn't we be worried about the country? >> rep

andjonkarlhave been tracking it. let's start with jake. >> reporter: last night aftete their primetime addresses, house speaker john boehner was overheard saying he didn't sign up to go mano a mano with the president of the united states after the president called for congress to compromise. the president spoke sternly to the american people last night blaming house republicans, especially freshmen, for holding up a debt deal. >> the only reason this balanced approach isn't on its way to becoming law right now is because a significant number of republicans in congress are insisting on a different approach. >> reporter: house speaker john boehner responded by saying that the president wants to continue his rampant spending. >> the president often said we need a balanced approach, which in washington means, we spend morerend you pay more. >> reporter: right now there a a two competing bills, to raise the debt ceiling and reduce the deficit. a house one that likely cannot pass the senate and a a nate one that cannot likely pass the house. both raise the debt ceiling, cut more than $1 tril

markets. let's get a reality check from abc's countdown team. jake tapper at the whitehouse.jonkarlon capitol hill. bianna golodryga from the new york stock exchange. looking at the asian and european markets overnight, there seems to be concern but not panic yet, bianna. >> reporter: that's right. wall street seems to be patient with washington. markets opening blower. just about 130 points lower. not the knee jerk reaction that people were fearful of. things are still at an impasse. even though the markets aren't selling off, people are concerned about what's still on the table a credit downgrade. the s&p says the u.s. could lose its aaa ratings in the next three months. that would mean that interest rates go higher. it would be more difficult for people to get a loan out there. and it could be a big burden for this economy, as we're just starting to recover. george? >> jon, they had been hoping on capitol hill to come up with some sort of deal before the markets opened today. that has not happened. it seems, the only thing that everyone seems to be accepting th

-- >> [ bleep ] you. >> reporter: remember the good old dayswhenjonstewartwas celebrated for using the "d" word to attack the host of a cnn show called crossfire. >> you're as big a [ bleep ] on your show as any other show. >> reporter: turns out mark halperin apologized a couple years ago for saying john edwards thinks obama is kind of a "p" word that means timid. now they've used the "d" word as well, gawker reports halperin has called obama both types of genitalia, look for the "d" spot, disconnect. >> one button, two button, four. >> reporter: jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> all right. coming up next hour, he could have been france's next president. now word that the sex assault case against dominique strauss-kahn may crumble. we'll talk about his future and whether the u.s. legal system really dropped the ball. 55 minutes after the hour. a vacation on a budget with expedia. make it work. booking a flight by itself is an uh-oh. see if we can "stitch" together a better deal. that's a hint, antoine. ooh! see what anandra did? booking your flight and hotel at the same time gets you prices